Corporate America, Time Magazine has just given you your wake up call. (Granted, many of you have been hearing this for the last two years. But the rest of you need get your hands of the snooze!)
With Time naming YOU as the most important person of 2006 (do I hear a Sesame Street tune coming on?) brand guardians need to wake up and smell the revolution.
User-generated media (aka consumer-generated media or CGM) is taking over the Web faster than you can say "email." If you didn't get into blogs in '04 or MySpace in '06, it's time to catch up. CGM puts the web into the hands of the users. So rather than leaving work of the web to professional designers and copy writers, the medium is now controlled by the masses. That is, by the users of Blogger and YouTube and MySpace. The right wing pundit who sounds off on the lefist conspiracy is getting almost as many eyeballs as CNN, and there are as many teens aware of LonelyGirl as "Little Women."
Power to the people.
What does this mean to you as a marketing professional? It means you no longer own your brand. It means you no longer control the message. You could try...but you shouldn't. Your brand is now as much a democracy as the Web itself, and you need to embrace the new regime.
If you love your brand, set it free! Seriously, give it wings and an open forum, and you'll fare better. Refuse the change and you'll be quickly be seen as stuffy and old-school. Attempt to control the message by manipulating the new Web, and you'll really be screwed.
Your best bet is to accept what you cannot change. People are going to write, talk, and even post videos about your brand online. They'll probably say some bad things. Let them. (I mean, they're saying it now...you just don't know about it.)
Your best bet is to let them talk, listen to what they say*and respond appropriately. Never lie or set up fake blogs or personae. Don't use stupid buzzwords and corporate-speak. And certainly don't do anything to hinder the conversation, like blocking comments on your blog. This isn't a fresh,terrifying, new hell -- it's an opportunity to humanize your brand.
Use it well. Use it wisely.
*shameless relevantNOISE plug. It was too easy.
Comments